Sunday, 8 September 2013

Easy-going rider… Sam Whiskey (1969)

I have fond memories of this comedy western from its
television screenings – perfect family entertainment at a time when we had only
three channels to choose from… we were more easily pleased.

Having not watched it since, I was unsure how the future
star of the mighty Deliverance and,er
Smokey and the Bandit would fare when
confronted with my older, more considered, gaze…

Sam Whiskey now
appears like a slightly higher-budget TV movie with extensive use of standard
backlot real estate and westerners who look like they bathe and have regular
haircuts. It ambles along in a pleasant way but there’s not much jeopardy or
tension.

Burt Reynolds in typical pose

Burt Reynolds plays Sam Whiskey an adventurer who has failed
to make the big time and yet whose reputation is enough to arouse the interest
of a damsel in distress seeking criminal expertise. Laura Breckenridge (Angie
Dickinson) is looking to clear her late husband’s name by returning the
$200,000 in gold he stole from the Denver Mint during the Civil War.

The gold bars went down with all hands on a paddle steamer
and she is convinced that they can be retrieved and then returned before the
routine inspection (not sure why this has taken so long…)

Laura is a very persuasive woman...

In spite of Mrs Breckenridge’s obvious charms, Sam is
reluctant to under-take what looks like an impossible task but, she reinforces
monetary incentive with repeated amorous inducements leaving Sam weak enough to
agree… Dickinson plays the sex-kitten very well but you do wish she’d been
given just that bit more to do. She has good chemistry with Reynolds but their
relationship is too much of a one-note affair.

Sam recruits local blacksmith Jed Hooker (Ossie Davis) to
help even though Jed sees right through his bluff and bluster and the an old
friend, inventor O.W. Bandy (Clint Walker) who just happens to have a machine
gun.

Burt Reynolds and Ossie Davis

From the outset they are trailed by an overweight man with
thick lensed spectacles, Fat Henry Hobson (Rick Davis) who wants to take the
gold for himself.

They find the sunken boat and using Bandy’s devices, dive
down into the river to start retrieving the gold bars… but all the while Fat
Henry and his men are watching…

But the tone of Sam Whiskey turns in the next few scenes as
Jed and Bandy are captured by some ornery lookin’ hombres who look set to
torture and slice the men in horrible ways - Anthony James as Cousin Leroy was
always excellent at “unsavoury” and he is genuinely so in the few frames he’s
allowed.

Sam swims over from his hiding place and unleashes Bandy’s
machine gun which, miraculously, mows down the baddies while leaving his pals
unscathed… and it’s all over in a flash of clinical retribution.

Ossie Davis, unsavoury Anthony James and Clint Walker

The film’s uneven tone becomes more focused as Sam and the
boys arrive at the Mint and have to work out an ingenious method of returning
the gold. As their deadline looks more and more impossible genuine tension is
felt as their scheme unfolds…

Dickinson rehashes her sexy moves as she holds a genuine
Bank inspector captive, whilst Sam’s inventive criminal skill is put to the
test: perhaps Mrs Breckenridge knew exactly what she was doing all along?

No giving away the ending though…

Arnold Laven directs very effectively and gives his stars
full reign, although it still feels like Reynolds and Dickinson barely get out
of second gear… Talking of which, a scene of Angie "bare-from-the-waist-up"
was cut to ensure the film’s family friendly rating, which may also explain the
shift to cartoon violence mentioned above. The film plays it very safe.

Angie Dickinson

Dusty verdict: Well worth a watch if you’re in the mood for
amiable entertainment, Burt Reynold’s cheek and Angie Dickinson’s endless
charm.

It’s available on DVD from the usual places and probably
screens on TCM every other week… I’ll be keeping my old VHS.